


a hole in the world

by reef2



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28685934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reef2/pseuds/reef2
Summary: the world is too big for a child
Relationships: Chara & Asriel Dreemurr
Kudos: 6





	a hole in the world

There is a hole in the world.

They’re not sure when it got there, why it’s there, who made it. 

To peer into it was dangerous, for within shadows swirled, voices whispered, and others were all too eager to drag you into harm’s way just because they felt like it.

So they avoided it, for a time.

They occupied themself in various ways: 

Wandering into the deepest parts of the forest, they danced among the rays of light that trickled in through the trees’ leaves. They practiced until they collapsed, until the sky became a mess of orange and pink, until their feet hurt so much they could not properly walk home. They tried to limp in quietly, glisser, they tried to ignore the shouts directed at their limp, élancer, they winced in pain as they were grabbed, lowered their head and took whatever punishment came their way from pushing themself to injury. Plier.

They drowned themself in rough-housing and games. Various outfits, various means of fictitious violence. Chasing down paved roads despite the threat of tripping, sweating from the heat of the sun long into the night. Until one day a fight broke out, the yelling resumed, their face and knuckles bloodied, really bloodied. They cried in their room, face swollen and dark, for long hours. Curled up in bed. A faded ribbon tightens, loosens, and repeats, again and again, around their arm, their forehead, their throat.

They cook themself a meal and they go out to a field, to lay down and close their eyes or sit up and write what they feel. They write beautiful words, they write ugly words. They release what they feel and they take a bite, a bite of food soggy with tears. They write until they scribble, their hand tightens around the pen, tears through the page.

There is a hole in the world.

It made them tired.

They peered in and they saw something dark and ugly, something pretending to be light and laughing, something that reached out and tried to drag them down. Their hold on the edge tightened. They stared, wide-eyed, down into that hole.

Perhaps they fell in.

Perhaps they jumped.

They never would say.

The hole would lead them someplace new. It would almost cause their death. They broke their bones, prepared to let the darkness of the cavern swallow them up. But there was something inside, to throw them a rope. Their eyes peered at it. Curious.

The person on the other end would lead them Home.

Through dark caverns lit by love, where they traversed perilous puzzles. Through snowy fields, where they rolled together a snowman later come to life. Through quiet and glowing waterways, where they gazed up at the starry ceiling. Through a land of heat and steel, where they met a man who no longer existed.

And then Home, where their heart would be filled with love.

They tried and tried to climb. They slipped now and then, but they made it a good distance. There was a hole, but their newfound family could try to fill it. They just had to get out first. They had to get out.

But one bad day, they stopped climbing.

They considered falling, but that wouldn’t do. To just let go would be to give up. 

And so they cut the rope. But he took their hand.

He tried to pull them out, so the two could change things. So the two could make things right, make things better. 

His grip, however, was not strong enough. And despite the child’s efforts to urge him on -

\- they fell.

There’s a hole in the world.

It is filled with memories. It is filled with dust. Those who fall into it are confronted with a truth - there is kindness there, masked by fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the uncertain, fear of those who fear each other. It is filled with hopes and dreams. It is filled with tears. It is filled with those who aim to climb, and those who would surrender.

Those who would deepen the hole, and those who would see it filled.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no memory of writing this, but found it one day.  
> I debated posting it and finally decided to.


End file.
